Student Public Relations Campaigns sweep campus

By Amanda Weber

Asst. News Editor

Felicia Smolen

Griffin Reporter

Dr. Catherine Foster, the Chair of the Journalism Department, is celebrating her tenth year at Canisius College. This semester, she is teaching a class titled Public Relations Campaigns. In this class, the students are required to pick a topic they are interested in. After each group has chosen a topic, they then have to put on an actual PR campaign on campus in order to spread awareness and promote their cause. Although these campaigns will be smaller than those in the “real world” due to the size of the campus and resources available to the students, Foster believes the class is a great step to becoming a professional in the world of public relations.

“We don’t have to pretend we’re going to an event. We’re going to do an event,” said Foster. “We’re not going to pretend we’re going to publish a brochure. We’re going to publish the brochure.”

The following is a list of events made possible by the class.

Stress Reduction Productions & Little Theatre present: LipSync

April 25, 2017 in Palisano Pavilion: 7-9 p.m.

On the Canisius College campus, students have to balance school, homework, clubs, and their respective social lives. There are some students who have jobs, others who are involved in multiple clubs, and others who are working to maintain a 4.0 GPA while also playing on a Division-One sports team. While this can serve as a rewarding experience for some, it also provides students with added stress that they often do not know how to handle. Although services are provided to Canisius students, such as the ALANA Counseling Center, students do not normally consider participating in a “fun, stimulating” activity in order to relieve this stress. However, a group of students at Canisius is working to change this perspective.

Brooke Hughes, Felicia Smolen, Amanda Weber, and Jenyia Wilson decided to focus on stress reduction as their topic and cause to promote. However, they are doing this with a twist. Instead of focusing on typical stress reduction tactics, such as meditation and relaxation, the group wants to promote the idea that you can relieve stress by engaging in a stimulating activity. Also, they want to analyze the current tendencies of Canisius College students and learn how stressed they normally are during the semester and how they typically tend to handle this stress.

“Our goal is to emphasize to the Canisius public that stress relief is extremely important, and encourage students to not push it off until the end of the semester,” said Hughes, outlining her group’s goals. “We want them to take precautions and deal with their stress immediately, rather than letting it build up.”

In order to combat stress in Canisius students and encourage them to experiment with new ways of handling stress, this group of students will be hosting a lip sync! This event will be open to both students and professors. For this event, anyone who wishes to be involved can perform as a solo, duo, or with a group of their peers. They will be allowed to perform a song, skit, or movie scene that they love and will have the most fun with. The group chose a lip sync event due to one member’s experience with performing in lip syncs in high school and the desire to encourage students to step out of their comfort zones when it comes to stress relief.

“We were trying to think of different ways of relieving stress that people might not necessarily think of right away,” said Hughes. “We heard the idea that you can relieve stress through singing, or lipsyncing, and dancing and knew that we wanted to focus our campaign on that.”

The event, hosted by the group with the self-proclaimed name “Stress Reduction Productions” and Little Theatre, will take place on April 25, 2017 at Palisano Pavilion from 7-9:00 p.m. There will be free pizza, beverages, raffle prizes, and a whole lot of music and laughter. Sign-up for the event by sending an email to Amanda Weber (weber50@my.canisius.edu). Or, come to watch the event and jam along with your friends!

Meet the Chefs Event

April 19, 2017 in Economou Dining Hall: 5-6 p.m.

Much like Stress Reduction Productions, other students in Dr. Foster’s Public Relations Campaigns Class are working towards a greater cause. In the Economou Dining Hall, a Healthy Eating event just passed on April 19. Gina Trippe, Kate Anticoli, Margaret Bohan, and Madi Weathers came together to help students realize that there are more healthy options on campus than they might know of. Their event helped students come together to discover that even though students are limited in their resources, it is possible to eat healthy on campus at the regular dining options.

“We decided that we wanted to focus on the healthy options on campus, rather than just healthy eating in general, because we know that college students have limited resources. We wanted to showcase the things they already had available to them,” said Trippe.

Their event helped students come together to try some healthy options offered at locations such as Pitchforks, the dining hall’s vegan option, as well as other options such as desserts. Students had the ability to meet the chefs behind these healthy options as well as develop a more personal connection with the chefs. Students could fill out a survey and enter their name and email address for a chance to win a $25 Griff Bucks prize.

“We came up with the idea, along with Chartwells, to showcase these foods as well as the expertise of the chefs behind them, in order to show students what options are available in a regular dining location,” said Trippe.

Impaired Driving Event

April 24, 2017 in the Library: 5-8 p.m.

Other groups are also putting on events in order to help create a change within the campus community. Megan Knuth, Hannah Crean, Sean Mattrey, and Shannon Pelitera hope to educate students of Canisius College on the dangers of drunk or impaired driving.

“Our mission is to spread the danger about impaired or drunk driving. We’re hoping that our idea of having students try to complete a sobriety test while wearing drunk goggles will put it into perspective of how hard it is to complete a sobriety test, let alone operate a vehicle,” Knuth said.

The group is hosting an event in the Library classroom on the main floor on Monday, April 24 from 5p.m.-8p.m. Students who attend and participate in the event, which will include wearing a pair of drunk goggles and trying to complete a sobriety test, will be able to have pizza and further learn about the dangers of impaired driving. They hope that by allowing students to participate, it will make them think twice the next time they become impaired or notice someone else is impaired and help them make the safest decision in that situation.

Sporting Event Attendance

April 26, 2017 at Koessler Athletic Center: 6:30-8:30 p.m.

Elizabeth Daley, Megan Mileham, Amber Porter, and Alexa Slisz hope to boost attendance at sports events here at Canisius. Sporting events have become very bare, and this is disheartening to student athletes. In order to encourage students to attend the events more often, this group is hosting a tailgating event on Wednesday, April 26 as well as a halftime party which will include lots of games, food, and prizes. The event is happening at the Koessler Center from 6:30 to 8:30pm..They will be featuring the food truck Cheesy Chick, raffles, games and more!

Hopefully by showing Canisius just how fun the sporting events can be, it will boost attendance in the near future. The Griffs need support and it’s up to you, Canisius, to offer them the cheers they need! Game day is rapidly approaching! Will you be there?

Club Participation Encouragement

Ongoing Event

Some students took it upon themselves to help in an ongoing way to make an impact at Canisius. Conor Toomb, who is currently a senior in a solo group in Dr. Foster’s Public Relations Campaign class, wants to help Canisius increase their club participation.

He recognized that there was only one club fair during Freshman Orientation, which makes it very cluttered and difficult to get a feel for when clubs will be having their meetings, what the clubs are about, etc. In order to combat this, Conor asked club rooms to leave their doors open for students to come in and inquire in hopes that students will feel more welcome to approach different clubs and learn about them. So far, Toomb said he has followed up with some of the clubs who chose to participate and they have already noticed an increase in club attendance and participation. Make sure to stop by a club room next time you see the door open and check out what they are all about!

Go to as many of these events as possible and support your fellow students!